Redemption
by Sarah Goodwill
Summary: Marcello is being treated by an old healer and her young apprentice. Could this experience change his life? MarcelloxOc
1. Chapter 1

It's been a month since the incident in the Holy Isle of Neos and the man responsible for so many deaths is constantly on the move. Lord High Priest Rolo had placed a bounty on the head of the ex-captain of the Templars.

Marcello had walked away from that day. Disgraced, injured, and broken. Everyday his injuries, as well as his anger, grows. Today, the pain is worst than ever, causing the middle age man to stumble on the beaten path.

The pain ruin most thoughts he held in his head. But when the pain would dull, one thing would scream in his mind. _"You will regret the day you saved my life."_

He grabbed his shoulder and grit his teeth when he felt the hot pain spike through his arm. The pain raced through his body to his head, making him feel light-headed until he passed out, falling forward on the ground.

* * *

A woman sits on the Jockey Box of a wagon cart. She has long white hair and dark blue eyes. She wore a blue dress with short sleeve and a white blouse with tight wrist length sleeves.

A blue Slime is her company. It sat next to her in a happy mood. "Did you see that guy in the Purple Cape with the pink feathers around his neck?"

The Woman laughs. "How could I miss him? He did come up to the booth"

The Slime laughs with joy. "Who goes out like that?!"

The Woman shakes her head. "I don't know. But I do know it we did sell a lot of merchandise today. Who knew that all those people were so interested in a little old healer."

The Slime hopped to face the woman. "Yeah who knew? And if we keep going back to sell in that Port, we probably get the same results."

The woman gasped and she pulled on the Horses' reins.

With the sudden command, the Slime fell off the Jockey box and on the road. It then hop back on the wagon. "Hey, Sarah! What's the big idea?!"

Sarah points out to a man. "Look! Some one collapsed in the middle of the road!" She gets up and hops off the cart. The Slime hops on her head as she walks towards the man. "Sir, are you alright?"

"Maybe he's dead?"

Sarah shakes her head. "I don't think so." She kneels down to him. "He looks like he's been through hell." She turns him over on his back and lays her head on his chest. "I hear a heart beat so he's still alive."

The Slime gets a good look of what the man is wearing. "Isn't that a Templar Uniform."

Sarah looks at his uniform."Odd. Templars don't usually come out here." She stands up folds her arms and thinks. "Maybe we should take him to Alethea."

The Slime bounces on her head annoyingly. "Are you kidding? A great Healer like Alethea shouldn't waste her time on a Templar, who looks like he hasn't taken a bath in months!"

Sarah tilts her head, making the Slime fall off of her. "Well we can't just leave him here."

"Yes we can"

Sarah kneels down to the man and sits him up and looks to the Slime. "Bring the wagon over here. I'll put him in the back."

"So we're taking him?"

"Of course. There's no way I'm going to leave anyone in the middle of the road."

The Smile bounced on the man's stomach. "But this guy looks like he'd be the type who would be mad if some one helps him."

"Just go get the wagon."

The Slime looks at her angrily. "...Fine I'll go get the wagon!" He turns and hops to the wagon, muttering under his breath.

Sarah looks at the man and studies his face. He did have an angry expression on his face. "What have you been through?"

* * *

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	2. Chapter 2

A mile down the road sits a three-story house. Outside the house a sign reads "Madam Alethea house of healing. Heals more than just the body."

Behind the house an old woman sits in the herd garden. She plucks Medicinal Herbs from the ground then lays them in a basket that sat next to her. After a few minutes she stops and stands up. Looking over to the house, she sense something was coming, something with an angry nature. Grabbing her basket, she walks out front of the house. Looking down the road, the feeling keeps getting closer.

Moments later Sarah's wagon slowly appears. She spots Madam Alethea watching the wagon. "Uh oh."

The Slime looks at the little old woman. "Do you think she knows?" The little blue monster looks at the injured man that's in the back of the wagon.

When Sarah parked the wagon in front of Alethea, the old woman rushed to the girl. "What's wrong. Why are you angry? Didn't it go so well?"

Sarah hopped off the wagon. "No, it went extremely well. And I'm not Angry."

Alethea looks at her confused. "Then where is that miserable feeling coming from?"

Sarah glances at the man in the wagon. "Well you see. On our way home we found a man unconscious in the middle of the road. We couldn't have just left him. And he's in pretty bad shape."

The Slime hops to Sarah. "No you brought him with us. I wanted to leave him."

Alethea walks over to the wagon and looks down at the man. "Oh dear."

Sarah looks at the old woman as she stares at the man. She walks over and looks at him too.

The old woman looks at the girl. "Sarah. Bring him inside and we'll deal with his wounds."

Sarah nods. "alright."

* * *

Marcello opens his eyes to see a wooden roof over head. His emerald eyes moves back and forth as he scan the room and saw a the bed he was laying on, a small desk on the other side of the room and a chair that looks slightly comfortable. He closed his eyes as he sat up which wasn't an easy feat with his pain. When he finally sat up, he noticed his shirt, glove, and boots were missing and bandages had replaced them.

Looking at the window on the other side of the room, he saw that it was night out. _"How did I get here?"_

Voices interrupted his thoughts. They were coming from the other side of the door.

"Now about that Templar, Sarah. I managed to take care of his wounds but not all of them."

"How come?"

"Some of his wounds are dangerously deep. If I had cut into them like the others to reopen them, he would have bleed to death."

Marcello looks at the door with wide eyes before unraveling a bandage on his arm. He grimace at the sight of stitched cuts.

"Oh... Did you find out what was making him angry?"

The ex-Templar Captain glares at the door has he ties the bandage back on his arm.

* * *

Alethea glances at the door where she had treated the stranger and talked to her apprentice. "No. His anger is deeper than any wound that could be inflicted in anyone. His anger most likely came from his past. It could be from anything. Lost love from a family member, getting robbed, losing every he owns. These are common for someone who is this angry."

Sarah looks at glances down to the table that they sat at. "I want to help him get rid of some of this anger he has. It's not healthy to have so much."

Alethea gets up from the table and picks up the dirty dishes that lies on the table. "That _if_ he wants the help." She walks over to the sink and puts the dishes in. "You can't help some one if they don't want it. So don't even try to continue unless he wants the help." She walks over to a book shelf and pulls out a blue covered book. "Until then we'll just focus on his wounds." She opens the book and hands it to Sarah. "We shouldn't let him leave until most of his wound have healed. If we do let him go, his wounds could become infected again."

Sarah takes the book and opens it. "Alright. Though I feel that it's going be tough work. Lets hope it's worth it."

The old woman nods. "Study the first two chapters of the book before you head to bed. Just don't stay up too late."

The young woman nods. "Alright, Alethea. Good night."

* * *

Marcello sits on the edge of his bed, staring at the floor. _"That girl wants to help me?" _He shook his head and frowns. _"No one can help me." _He lays back down on the bed for the rest of the night.

* * *

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	3. Chapter 3

When morning came, Alethea came out of her room to see her apprentice sleeping on the couch with the book on the floor. Shaking he head, she walks over to the sleeping woman and picks up the book and saw that she finished her work last night. Shelving the book, she walk over to the kitchen table and starts to work on a big breakfast and other things.

Thirty minutes later the silver-haired woman woke up due to the sun beaming though the windows. Sitting up and stretching, she looks around to find her teacher, sitting at the table getting breakfast ready. The old woman looks up to Sarah. "Good morning young one."

Sarah smiled and stands up. "Good morning Alethea." She sits down at the table

Alethea smiles and goes back to tend to the breakfast. "After breakfast, I want you to tend to our visiter's wounds."

The silver-haired woman nods. "Yes Alethea."

After breakfast, Sarah grab some bandages, Medicinal Herb, and some weird liquid that's in a Holy water vial. With this items she quietly opens the door of the room. Looking inside she saw that the guy was still asleep. She sneaks in the room and slowly the door. She walks up to the side of the bed and kneels down. She then looks at him before gently taking his arm. As she starts to unravel the old bandage, the stranger eye's snapped opened and he quickly grabbed her hand firmly. "Who are you?!"

Sarah looks at his face with her eyes wide opened. His sudden action shocked her. "Uh! Um I'm Sarah, sir."

* * *

After she gave Marcello her name, he took in her appearance. She was very thin and wore a lot of dark blue, the font of her skirt was mostly covered by a white stainless Apron. Her long silver hair could reach the floor if she sat with her ankles crossed. Her face wore no make up or jewelry. Her big eyes matched the blue that she wore, which one closed while the other held a slight pain look. "Um ... sir? Can you please let go of my wrist, it's starting to hurt. And I need to tend to your wounds."

Marcello glare at her and his grasp tightens around her hand. "That you renewed!"

Sarah looks up into his emerald eyes while fight shown in her own. "Please, you must understand. My teacher only did that to clean you previous wounds. They were infected. If you had continued to carry on with them you could have gotten sick and died."

He gives her a skeptic look before he loosen his grip. He then spoke to her in a low growl. "I don't need anyone's help. I was fine on my own."

Sarah looks at him confused. "But I found you, out cold, in the middle of the road. How can you count that as being fine?"

Marcello just glared at her then turns his head away from her. He grits his teeth "...Never mind!"

She looks at his covered wounds. "Will you allow me to put some fresh bandages on you, then I'll get out of your hair and let you rest."

He glances at her to find her eyes giving him a pleading look then turns his head to face back at her. "Why do you want to help me?"

Sarah just shrugs her shoulders. "It just the way I was raised, to help anyone in need."

He stars at her then glances away. "...Fine." He lets go of her hand and she continues to unravel the bandages.

She the looks back up his face. "Oh by the way..." He looks back to her. She gives him a small smile. "You never told me your name." He just stars at her before glancing away again."..." She then shrugs her shoulder and gets back to work in silence.

* * *

In the other room, the slime slips under the front door. He looks around and saw Alethea stalking, create with Medicinal Herbs, Antidotal Herbs, Holy water, and other items weary travelers would buy. The woman looks up to the blue blob. "Slimey? Did you sleep outside last night?"

The Slime hops on the table and landing with a loud thud. "Yes. Slept out in the Herb Garden."

Alethea gives him a look that tells him it was an odd thing to do. "Why?"

Slimey closes his eyes in annoyance and gives her a loud sigh. "There is no way I'm Sleeping under the same roof with a Templar. I don't know why Sarah thinks she can help them."

Alethea gets back to stalking the Items. "You don't think she can do it?"

Slimey looks at the old woman. "Heck no! All Templars are the same. They have people thinking that they are these really good guys when in reality they just as snooty as a rich snob! ... or Prince Charmless of Argonia. And further more.."

Alethea tones out the Slime bouncing on the table and angry rants on how bad Templars are with their jobs and get back to her work.

* * *

Both Sarah and Marcello are glaring daggers at the door as they over heard Slimey. Sarah looks up to Marcello as she finishes with her own work. "Please take no offence on that. That was just my Slime friend. He has a bad attitude about everyone."

Marcello looks at her but just keeps silent letting her finish up.

Sarah then stands up and looks at him. "All done." She then remember the Vial. Taking it out of her Apron's pocket and hands it to him. "Here, it's medicine. It will taste weird but it will help with your pain."

He looks at it before holding his hand out for her to drop it.

Sarah smiles at him. "Well I'll just get out of your hair. Hope to see you later." She turns to leave the room.

"Marcello."

She looks back at him. "Hmm, what was that?"

He looks at her, not showing any expression. "You asked for my name, so I provided you with the answer. My name is Marcello."

She stars at him then smiles. "Well it was nice meeting you, Marcello...Oh Before I forget, my teacher, Alethea, is having your shirt washed and mended. Sorry about that. It'll be returned to you soon." She smiles at him and leave the room.

When then door closed, Marcello looks at the vial in his hand. Taking the lid off the top he quickly guzzled the medicine down. After a second he quickly covered his mouth after finding the disgusting tasted the medicine had provided. "URGH!"

* * *

When Sarah exit the room she saw Slimey with his jaw dropped. "You were in there with him!?"

She nods. "Yes. I needed yo take care of his wounds."

Alethea looks up at her apprentice. "Did you learn anything about him."

Sarah fiddles with her fingers. "Just his name. He said it's Marcello."

* * *

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	4. Chapter 4

That day, Sarah and Slimey became busy with their work, selling their items and spreading the word about Alethea's house of Healing. They had gone back to the port they went to the previous day.

A few times that day, Sarah's mind had shifted to Marcello. She wondered how he ended up terribly injured. She couldn't help but think about the strange man. At the end of the day the silver-haired woman looks to the slime. "It's starting to get let. Lets pack up and go home."

She then noticed something and glanced down to the blue blob. "Marcello doesn't have any belongings with him, didn't he?"

The slime looks up to her. "Oh don't tell me your thinking about that stupid Templar."

Sarah smiles. "I'm just thinking, he doesn't have anything but the clothes on his back. I think I should at least get a extra set of clothes so he's not always wearing that uniform."

Slimey frowns. "Pah! Don't waste you're money on him. He's a Templar and all Templars are-"

Sarah places the create in the back of the wagon. "Oh save your Templar conspiracies for another day. Besides, Alethea is mending up his shirt and I doubt you would like to see him walking around shirtless."

The blue blob frowns at her words then glances away, mubbling. "Point taken." Sarah smiles and laughs at the slime and finished packing up. She then grabs Slimey and walks away from the wagon.

* * *

Back at the house, Alethea hangs the upper half of the Templar uniform outside the dry. She had yet to repair it. Picking up her empty basket, the old woman walks back into the house. Once inside, Alethea found her guest, standing infront of the bookcases with a blanket wrapped around himself. She puts the basket on the table. "You shouldn't move a lot. That medicine is more effective if you sit still."

Marcello glares to the old woman. "I'm nost staying in bed during my stay here."

Alethea gets to her work. "No on confined you to that room to begin with, Marcello" She then turns to him. "Please sit down."

He looks to the small dinner table and four chairs. He sighs, sliding one of chairs out from the tables and sits down with his arms folded. The ex-Templar captain sits in silent as his hostess continues to work. It was a good ten minutes before she took a break, in that time Marcello had a good look around the room. He saw a few healing items here and there but they didn't keep his attention for long as the old woman sat down in the chair across from him.

She looks across the table to Marcello. "If you don't mind me asking, Marcello. How did you manage to get so badly injured?"

He glares at her. "...I rather no talk about it."

Alethea nods. "I understand. Too painful of a memory, is it?"

He sighs and mumbles under his breath. "You have no idea."

Alethea looks to him. "Where did you come from. Templars don't come to this country."

He looks up from the table. "Maella Abbey."

She looks at him with wide eyes. "Maella Abbey? That's on the other side of the world."

Before Marcello could say anything else the door opened and Sarah walked in. She looks at the injured man and old woman and smiles. "I'm back."

Alethea looks to the young woman. "Welcome back, Sarah. How was your day?"

Sarah smiles and tilts her head. "It was good." She reaches into the pocket on the apron and pulls out what they had made. She hands it to Alethea. "Work went smoothly as always."

The old healer smiles. "That's good." She then notices something in Sarah's other hand. "What do you have there, dear?"

Sarah looks down to her hand. "Oh this? Well this is an extra set of clothes for Marcello."

Marcello looks at the bundle in her hand.

Sarah looks to him. "If it's alright with you."

He then looks up to her face then glances away, gritting his teeth. "Fine. Thank you."

She smiles and walk to the room he's staying in. She puts the clothes on his bad and walks out of the room.

* * *

Sorry it took me long. I was busy and have Writers block... again.


	5. Chapter 5

_"Marcello." Finding the voice slightly familiar he had to open his eyes. His eyes wide at the site. He was back at Maella Abbey in the warm summer. He stood in front of it against the tree. He was once again dressed in his Captain's uniform. "What am I doing here?" He stares at the holy building in awe and confusion.  
_

_"Marcello." He turns his head and gasped. There stood was his mother. Her black hair pulled back into a long braid. Her emerald eyes shine as she smiled at him._

_"Mother?"_

_Her eyes closed as her smile grew larger. Marcello took a step towards her but didn't get too far as she disappears along with the Abbey. He shakes his head. "No. NO! Why? Why did you have to leave me behind!?" He grits his teeth remember how painful her death was. Because of them having nothing to their names there was nothing he could have done to save her. He felt useless, more useless than the aftermath of Neos' destruction. He lays a hand over his eyes as a tear falls down his cheek. "They took you away from me You'd be here if they didn't abandon us!"_

_"It couldn't be helped."_

_Marcello slowly opened his eyes as he know this voice all too well. A glint of rage appears in the emerald pools. "Why must you always ruin my life?" He looks up from the floor and saw the being that he absolutely despised, Angelo. "I have nothing so why appear to me now?!"_

_"Nothing?" __Angelo tilts his head to the side to point his gaze behind his half-brother. Turning his head to match Angelo's gaze, he saw a woman standing alone a few yards behind him, her back facing him. He stares at her confusingly._

_She turns her head to look over her shoulder and gives him a smile. It was Sarah. She turns to him and stretch her hand out to him. "Marcello. Let me help you recover. I want to help you to let go of your past."_

_"You still believe you have nothing?"_

_Marcello looks back to Angelo to see that he had disappeared. He looks about before turning his attention back to Sarah. She still smiles to him, waiting for his answer._

_Just as he opened his mouth to answer a loud, sinister chuckle filled his head._

_"You care for her only knowing her for a day." Marcello grabs his head as pain starts to run through his body. "No, you're dead!" He falls to his knees as the pain starts to grow. He looked up at Sarah when he heard her gasp. She had her mouth covered with her hands and she was backing away from him in fright. He had neglected to noticed that his skin and hair turned grey and a red glow surrounds him. "I'll make sure you lose her just like everything else. HAHAHA!"_

_Marcello grits his teeth. "No!_

He bolts up in his bed. "NO!" He breathes hard and looks around. He was still in Alethea's house. When he catches his breath and wipes the sweat from his forehead. He brings his legs over the edge of the bed. "Rhapthorn is gone. It was only a dream." He looks to the window and notice that it was dawn. He lets out a sigh and lays back down, prepared to fall back to sleep.


End file.
